Jacksonville Jaguars

Mike Smith reportedly the favorite in the Jaguars coaching search

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:34 p.m. ET

Fansided, Daniel Lago/FanSided via Black and Teal

The Jaguars are deep into their coaching search, but they’ve reportedly already zeroed in on a candidate – Mike Smith.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have interviewed a multitude of candidates for their head coaching vacancy, most of which are the “hot names” among the pool of current coordinators. While the rest of the teams in the head coaching hunt are seemingly moving slowly, the Jaguars have reportedly decided on their guy:

Mark Dominik: No other coaching interviews for the #Jaguars. They've honed in on their guy, w/a defensive background.

— Zig Fracassi (@ZigFracassi) January 9, 2017

Among the candidates the Jaguars have interviewed, there’s really only one who has a defensive background: former Atlanta Falcons head coach and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Mike Smith.

Smith leaves a lukewarm feeling among fans because he’s not as “hot” of a name as a Josh McDaniels or Kyle Shanahan, but Smith has a good track record as a head coach. Smith helped immediately turn around a downtrodden Atlanta Falcons franchise in just one year, a miraculous accomplishment given the dumpster fire left behind by Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino. He fell out of favor when he couldn’t get the Falcons over the hump in the playoffs, but he has a history of leading successful teams.

Additionally, Jacksonville Jaguars general manager David Caldwell has seen first hand what Smith can do:

Fueling Smith’s candidacy is the reality that Smith served as coach of the Falcons when Jaguars G.M. Dave Caldwell worked as the director of college scouting and, in 2012, the director of player personnel in Atlanta.

During each of Caldwell’s five years with the Falcons, Smith led the team to a winning record, culminating in an NFC title-game appearance. So while Smith’s star fell quickly in the two years after Caldwell had left, Caldwell’s full memories of his five years with the Falcons include working with a coach who, every single season, won more games than he lost.

In the four seasons since then for Caldwell, it’s been the other extreme, with Gus Bradley going 14-48 before being fired late in the 2016 season.

The bar is pretty low in Jacksonville after the atrocity known as the Gus Bradley era, but Smith would be a solid choice for a team that badly needs discipline and a culture of success.

If Smith is the guy, the Jaguars will likely announce the hire very soon.